User is not eligible for this purchase - in app billing

Question

I'm getting

"User is not eligible for this purchase"

message from google play while trying to purchase as a test.

I've uploaded singed apk in google play, published the billing item(in app product), saved the apk as draft, still getting this error.

Also I was trying to purchase from test user device.

Answer 1

Edit:

The actual reason for this error:

If an unauthorized user try to purchase an item then this message should appear.

So if the App is not published, a non test user should get this error while try to purchase.

I realized that, Google play takes time to update the changes in app store. So you can not expect the changes immediately. Rather you should wait, in my case it took average 2/3 hours.

Still there may be some unknown error, which I could not figure.

My Cases:

First I was trying to purchase from my test device still got this error, But after waiting some time I didn't get this error. So I think the time was reason here.

Secondly I was trying from a non test device, which was an unauthorized device as the app was not published.

Answer 2

You must use, only, Test Account for Testing purposes. You can not use market account or others for purchasing your app while Testing.

From Android Docs

The synchronous response for a CHECK_BILLING_SUPPORTED request provides a Bundle with a server response code. A RESULT_OK response code indicates that in-app billing is supported; a RESULT_BILLING_UNAVAILABLE response code indicates that in-app billing is unavailable because the API version you specified is unrecognized or the user is not eligible to make in-app purchases (for example, the user resides in a country that does not allow in-app billing). A SERVER_ERROR can also be returned, indicating that there was a problem with the Google Play server.

see details here

Answer 3

This error comes when everything you done is perfect, you have used signed APK with the proper product id, but you have to note that the account that you are using might don't have proper valid credit card details.

So whenever you want to buy any product even with test account, that account should have valid credit details.

You have to specify test account in Edit profile of your publisher account

Licensing & In-app Billing

Test Accounts box

Answer 4

There is a now an additional situation which can result in the "User is not eligible" message.

It comes down to this recent change in the licensing system:

The Licensing keys are now managed for each app individually. To see the license key for an application, switch to the new design and go to the Services and APIs for the application

You can no longer use the old "shared" license key when creating new apps. You must switch the Google play developer console to the "new design" and use the license key for each specific app from that app's Services and APIs section.

If you try to use the old shared key the behavior is as follows:

1. If app is not yet published, tester will receive "User is not eligible for this purchase" message.
2. If app is published, user will go through purchase process and be charged for purchase, but the app will not receive a "purchase success" message.

TL;DR: Make sure you are using the new per-app license key and that you have copied it correctly.